-----Original Message----- From: Ben Buchanan Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 10:35 PM To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Subject: Re: [WSG] Cost of Accessibility I believe web accessibility is in society's best interests. Companies should be forced to do it, just as they are forced (at least in .au) to provide physical accessibilty for their buildings.
Christie Replies Yes Target, and other public spaces, have been "forced" into accessible parking, sidewalks and bathrooms, municipally owned spaces actually lagged for-profit spaces by many years. But, and this is a big but, they have not been "forced" into making their display of products to purchase, or the location of those products, accessible to physically challenged people. In a Target, or any other store, there are no supportive technologies enforced to read aisle signage, location of checkout counters, the difference between a box of corn flakes and a box of poison, etc. In many ways, laws that attempt to "force" behavior do more harm than good. They don't eliminate prejudice, they just force people to be more subtle in their expressions of prejudice. The hiring of disabled people actually decreased after protective laws were passed. It's much easier to hide why you didn't hire a disabled person than to fire, with merit, someone in a protected group after you've hired them. Christie Mason ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *******************************************************************
